Box Office: Hannah Montana Rules, Dragonball Flops

So does this mean when Hannah Montana (aka Miley Cyrus) and her buddies made fun of Asian people in a photograph a few weeks ago, it didn’t affect her popularity with the kids anyway? It would appear that is indeed the case, because the Disney Channel princess has scored another hit on the big screen with “Hannah Montana The Movie”, beating out last week’s top dog “Fast & Furious” by $6 million with an impressive $34 million weekend debut. Now let this be a lesson to you: never, ever doubt the power of tweens to force their parents to do things they don’t want to do, like shell out money to see something in the theaters they could have seen for free on TV.

Justin Lin’s “Fast & Furious”, which last week claimed the box office crown, continues a strong showing at the theaters despite falling to second place in its second week. The car racing flick earned $28.7 million, giving it $118 million in just two weeks of release. Add in its foreign gross, and the film has made just south of $150 million in two weeks. A fifth installment, one presumes, is coming sooner rather than later.

The week’s other new films, Seth Rogen’s “Observe and Report” and the much-derided “Dragonball: Evolution” came in 4th and 8th place, respectively. The PG-rated “Dragonball” arrived on the heels of terrible reviews and word-of-mouth from fans, many of whom have been prowling our comments section since the movie was announced last year. It would appear they were true to their word and didn’t go see James Wong’s live-action take on the incredibly popular Japanese anime. In it’s debut, “Dragonball: Evolution” took in a pitiful $4.6 million despite opening in over 2000 theaters.